2015 Coventry Health Care Proposed Rate

The Iowa Insurance Division has received a request from Coventry Health Care to increase their base rates for the 2015 plan year. A public rate increase hearing has been scheduled before the Commissioner of Insurance on July 26, 2014 at 11:30 am at the locations below. Affected Coventry health Care policyholders and members of the public may submit comments on the proposed rate increase below or contact the Consumer Advocate for insurance.

18 Responses to “2015 Coventry Health Care Proposed Rate”

This just hit me in the forehead like a two by four. When I first signed up I was grateful to finally have insurance but now they raise my rate by $32.16 per month when it was $82.16 to begin with. I honestly feel blind-sided for getting hit with such a steep increase only one month after signing up with Coventry. I understand the need for rate increases but to me this sounds astronomical. I’m on a fixed income and social security isn’t giving me that same rate increase so how can I afford to keep up with the insurance company? I’m not trying to start trouble by any means but this feels incredibly unfair.

I would rather take my chances and live without insurance if it costs me any more than it does now. I can’t very well afford what I pay NOW! I only go to the doctor when I absolutely have to. In fact, before I had it, I probably should have went more often than I did but couldn’t afford it. Now I really can’t afford it because I have to pay more per year than I did before when I only went to the doctor once every 2-3 years. Since I have had this insurance, I haven’t been to the doctor once, so why should MY rates increase? It isn’t my fault that some people abuse the system, smoke cigarettes, or otherwise cause rates to go up. I feel taken advantage of that six months after practically being forced to get insurance (because it was the right thing to do by law), the company is trying to get more money out of me when I am not even part of their problem! Angie Clark

All I want to say is why do they have to increase the premium when the benefits remain the same? I don’t understand why the healthy have to suffer when we don’t even use our health insurance. Whoever is in charge of this better wake up because not everyone has full-time work to afford these payments that keep going up and up.

We have only had this policy 6 months and they are already raising the rates. I am disabled and on a fixed income so I cannot pay these increases. This is the first increase since the Affordable Care Act went into effect and it gives insurance companies the power to do whatever they want. There are plenty of people like myself that can’t afford this. If it goes up this year then what’s to stop them from passing another increase next year and the year after that? All of the insurance companies make enough money and live the luxurious life while we are struggling just to get by. I call this harassment. 6 months in and they already want an increase. Where does it stop? It should be more affordable for those with a low income. I oppose it strongly. I already don’t eat out, I don’t go to movies, and I don’t have cable TV or satellite or anything. If I can’t afford this now, what will happen in the future? I wish the state and the federal government would stop this kind of thing. I don’t see how they calculate these numbers and it’s not right. The commissioner needs to go through his calculations and compare the cost against what they are spending. I had to get a prescription earlier this year and the health insurance didn’t cover any of the cost. I ask myself “why do I even have this insurance in the first place?”

I am a single mother, who works to two jobs to support my family of 5. Because of my income I did not qualify for Hawk – I insurance. My employer offered health insurance but at a cost of 750.00 per month. That’s a house payment, so I did not have health insurance on my family. If someone got sick, we went to the local clinic and I payed out of pocket for their care. Then the ACA came along and I was tickled that I could have health insurance on my two remaining dependents and everything would work out. It also gave me peace of mind that my children were covered in case of an accident. So I just got a notice that Coventry insurance wants to raise out rates. Their factors for the rate increase is based on speculation that costs are going to change. When you get car insurance your rates stay the same unless you get a moving violation or an accident. I have made my premiums on time, and have not used or filed a claim on my health insurance. The health insurance law was to make this affordable for all people, I don’t believe that they need a rate increase. Are we just going to increase the rates until we can’t afford to pay our bills, put food on the table and support our families. Giving health insurance companies free rein on our lives and our budget was not the intention of this law. Maybe health insurance companies should be non profit agencies and they would be more sensitive to the people they serve. Remember I am just a person trying to do the right thing and follow the law. Why should I be punished.

I used to be on Iowa Care while attending the University of Iowa because they helped people with low income. My payment was $58 per month and there were no extra fees attached to that. It was just a flat $58. There was no co-payment and it took care of everything, and I mean everything. Every time I would get 60 pills for $4 regardless of what the medication was. The medication could be $1,000 but I would only have to pay $4 and the insurance would take care of the rest. Now ever since this Affordable Care Act took over my insurance has been going up. I can no longer attend school and my premiums went to $70 per month and the cost of medications tripled. I was put through a heart study with the University of Iowa and they would run tests and CAT scans each month. I can no longer do this since Obama made all these changes. Anyway, now that I’m with Coventry they want to raise my rates again and I can’t do this.

Yesterday we received a letter from Coventry Insurance Care of Iowa stating that they were asking for an increase in basic rates. I urge you not to approve this.

Until my wife obtained health coverage through the Marketplace under the new Health Care Act, she had been uninsured since I was forced to retire in 2005 because of health issues. We lived on my Social Security check and could not afford health insurance premiums.

While my medical is taken care of by the VA, she could not even see a doctor without insurance. Although it is still not easy to make her share of the insurance premium with the new Health Care Act, we do manage to keep it paid but if the Insurance Company is allowed to keep raising their prices we won’t be able to.

This same letter says that they can still raise the prices of her premiums due to personal individual factors, even if their request for basic rates are denied!

I can not understand how the new health plan can help us if the insurance companies can still raise our costs when the government requires us to buy the insurance by subsidizing it? Their raising prices just makes it so that we can not afford it once again and then face a fine from the government for not having it.

My wife had health problems that were not being diagnosed or treated before she got the insurance. Now they have been diagnosed and she is on medication. What is suppose to happen if we can no longer pay the premiums because the prices are raised again? What happens when she can no longer get the medications because they are no longer covered by insurance?

We would have been better off with no new health plan if the government is going to let them make it unaffordable once more.

Please turn down this request by the insurance company and stop them from raising prices for “personal individual factors”!

Dear Consumer Advocate:
I write to speak against Coventry’s requested 7.2% increase of base premium rates. Why?
1. Our people and country cannot afford to, year after year, increase our costs for health insurance and health care year after year in way higher percentages than almost anything else.
2. In my situation between what Obama Care premium subsidy pays (about $325 per month) and what I pay (about $25 per month), Coventry has received ($350 per month x 6 months) $2,100 in 2014. The only amount Coventry has paid is about $200 for my yearly physical. In my case, so far this year Coventry has a profit of $1,900. The most likely scenario is that Coventry will receive another $2,100 this year with no further pay outs. That will be a $4,000 profit in 2014.
3. Far from spending more for health insurance and health care, we must learn how to enjoy better health, while spending less.
4. If all of our people would eat the right foods in the right amounts and exercise a healthful amount, I believe we could drastically decrease costs.
5. We do way too many medical tests in our country that serve no useful purpose. We must change that practice. Changing this will reduce costs.
In short, Coventry needs to reduce its wasteful spending. Health care executives should be paid less money as well. The amounts they make all across this country obscene and unjust.
Sincerely, Brian Helmus

I see on the page that I got, Coventry is going to raise the base premium by 12.8%. I think that’s way too high. Unfortunately right now I’m unemployed and I don’t get that kind of increase in 6 months. I know insurance goes up but I guess I just think this is a little too much in 6 months. I understand that with technology there will be some increase but right now that’s just a little excessive.

This is in response to a letter I received from Coventry Health Care of Iowa regarding the premium rate increase they are requesting. As I am unable to attend the public hearing, I am commenting by email.

I hope you will take into consideration the many people on fixed income that cannot afford this rate increase. I am one of those people.

The rate increase they are proposing will increase our health insurance costs by 50%. That is unacceptable.

I was sold a plan on the health exchange that was very narrow and specific (I found out after seeing my provider) and my provider will not and cannot
accept it. When I was sold the plan the insurances rep from Velapoint told
me my provider accepted the Coventry Unity Point plan. I have an email
string from my providers billing rep explaining the situation and the
Velapoint rep. I was told I could see my current provider, and have been
sold a plan where I cannot. I am an unemployed full time student and
getting the right insurance is a paramount concern for me. The rep told me
she can do nothing despite the fact she sold me incorrect insurance. Even
the rep said she could have sold me a Humana plan that would have worked, but
refused to change me to this plan despite her selling me the wrong plan.
Please help!

To whom it concerns: I am a 63 year old woman trying to live on $23,000 a year. I pay $420 a month for Coventry health insurance, and that’s cheaper than I used to pay but I had to switch companies. All I really gained was the monthly premium. The reason I switched insurance was to pay less in premiums. I really can’t afford an increase already. Otherwise it will be back up where it was. I don’t believe the insurance companies are fair to us who only have a certain amount of income. Thanks for giving me a chance to voice my opinion and please don’t let them put an increase into effect. Thank you, Betty McFarland

I don’t have much to say other than dealing with Coventry has been an absolute hell. They say they don’t receive my payments and then charge me late fee’s when they are the ones who couldn’t find it at first. This health insurance is overpriced to begin with and now the idiots want to raise it again. It’s ridiculous.

Dear Iowa Insurance Division,
It is my opinion that I would pay twice as much for insurance if it were nationalized. Have you been to Japan or any European country and received treatment? I had surgery in Japan and contest that the non-profit driven health system is more efficient, more effective, and gets people back to work more quickly. See for yourself. Stop the profit driven health systems and nationalize our healthcare system. At least make it an option. People can then choose between an operation that costs $150,000 and leaves them bed-ridden and sucking down morphine for weeks and the same operation that costs $10,000 and has them back on their feet in a few days. This is why Japan is amongst the healthiest nations in the world, with few missed days of work. Nationalize our healthcare and never worry about coverage again. I forgot to mention that while the number of Americans who have operations performed in Thailand, Japan, or Europe to save time and money is low, it still delivers a blow to the American economy
Kind regards,
Forest

In response to a proposed insurance premium increase, I have this to say. Coventry costs were to be calculated according to my income. My wife is on disability following a brief stint on the food stamp program. Doctor visits and her several medications swallow up much of her income. My income is borderline Medicaid eligible and my medical history reveals I have paid untold thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, I seldom have need to even see a doctor. We are stretched financially to the maximum. Any rate increase will force us to seek Medicaid reapplication or some other type of solution to this. My employers do not give their employee pay raises, so my financial situation cannot ever be expected to improve. I have no wish to repeat myself in this letter when Coventry seeks a premium increase this year, next year and ever coming year.

I worked in insurance billing for over 15 years and, personally, I feel like they keep raising premiums each year which leads to physicians raising their prices as well to cover the cost of staffing and facilities. They don’t get reimbursed for the full amount from the insurance companies and it turns into a never ending cycle. They just pass the cost along to the consumer. This is the purpose of Omabacare, to prevent situations like this from occurring. Premiums have gotten so high that nobody can afford it. This is just my opinion. I’m disabled and on Obamacare and I have had nothing but problems since it started. They need to do a better job of training instead of jumping right into it. The workers getting the information really have no training and don’t know what they’re doing. They actually lost my application on three separate occasions. I understand where the insurance is coming from but it’s still not for to the consumer and therefor I must oppose this increase. Thank you.

Dear Consumer Advocate:
I wholeheartedly disagree that Coventry should be allowed a rate increase.
We all know that United States’ healthcare system is a business first, and then a healthcare manager, second. I can’t begin to tell you how often you get the feeling that before you receive any modicum of respect, results, and compassion, you have to PAY, PAY, PAY!!!
American will never break the cycle of ‘pay to play’ healthcare until we (as in Coventry) reconciles with the fortune they are already making and our ability to provide excellent healthcare without extorting massive profits.
I am paying over $370/mo for one person; just to join the Coventry Club. My deductible and out of pocket are so ridiculous, (but we have no choice in the matter as all the competitors are in the same boat) that I may as well not have health insurance at all; I’ll just pay the doctors what I can – or die.
I have little faith that an increase in rates will improve Coventry’s ability to provide excellent healthcare.
I have since dropped Coventry. Of course their rules dictate that even if you cannot benefit from paying your insurance (e.g. moving out of the area), you still have to PAY, PAY, PAY two more weeks of premiums that provide nothing. Business first, Healthcare second! That’s the way it is, and that’s then way it’ll stay until someone stands up to this mockery and fixes the system.

Wow…I just received a letter in the mail today saying my health care ccosts were jumping $150.00 in January. I am a divorced woman at 63. This is crazy. I didn’t expect this kind of increase at such a short notice. I am on a limitied income. This does not seem fair.